Distortion
by DiscoSludge
Summary: Because a change of heart comes slowly. My take on what truly happened in the Distortion World. Warning: this is from a shipper's point of view. If you don't like you don't have to read. Rating could change, but probably won't. Dramady, sort of.
1. Chapter 1

"So this is the famous Distortion World I've been hearing so much about?" Dawn asked sarcastically as her and Cynthia stood alone on one of the many floating rocks that had strewn themselves about the place. Cynthia frowned and looked down at Dawn. Was now really a time to be cracking jokes?

"Do you know what kind of trouble we're in?" Cynthia asked, her voice snapping a bit. Dawn looked a bit taken aback, but she hid it with a smile. One of those classic big smiles that she used to get herself out of trouble. It worked with basically everyone. Everyone but...

"Ah, so I see you two have finally made it." A male's voice said to them from behind. They both turned around at the same time to see Cyrus. _Ah, _Cynthia though _I was just thinking about you. _Dawn's eyes grew wide with admiration...or was it fear. It was more of a mixture of both. She both revered his never-give-up-attitude, but disapproved of his create-a-new-world theory. Cynthia couldn't blame her, she felt the same way.

"We don't have time for this Cyrus. Do you want us to battl-" Cynthia was cut short by Cyrus placing a hand on her mouth. One of Dawn's eyebrows raised as Cynthia made noises that were somewhat similar to a struggling Meowth mixed with a Pikachu. Finally Cyrus let go and wiped his hand on his shirt in disgust.

"How dare you? I'm the champion and I will not be pushed around by some stuffy...blue-haired...guy!" Cynthia shouted. Her words tripped up a bit trying to think of an insult, she never was really good at that. Cyrus rolled his eyes but quickly turned around at the cry of some sort of strange Pokemon. Cynthia stopped shouting too and looked.

It was large and shadowed, so it was very hard to see. But from the silhouette they could see it had two large wings and its body was snake-like. Much like the shadow back at the Spear Pillar. Dawn reached into her bag to get a pokeball, but Cynthia grabbed her hand.

"It would be impossible to catch that thing, even for us." She said, gesturing towards her and Cyrus. His eyes widened for a minute before scowling down at her. "Don't compare yourself to me, ever...again." His eyes wandered over towards the shadow once again. Dawn giggled in spite of herself.

"What?" Cynthia asked. This was surely no time to be giggling, why on Earth would Dawn be laughing right now. Did she think this was funny? Being stuck here with Cyrus and that massive destroying machine? Dawn rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well, it just seems like you two know each other. That's all." Dawn whispered up to her then placed a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Cynthia's face contorted a bit.

"Yeah, it's a long story. I'll tell you about it later." Cynthia said, her mouth still twisted into an odd shaped frown. Dawn suppressed a smile and walked up to Cyrus. She was considerably shorter than him, so it looked quite...strange. Dawn then reached out a finger and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, a glare in his eyes.

"What happened between you two?" She asked bluntly. Cynthia tried to stop her midway between her sentence but was too late. She sighed, defeated. Cyrus narrowed his eyes for a minute then looked over at Cynthia who had an eyebrow raised and was tapping her foot. "What on Earth, could you possibly mean?" Cyrus asked. Then Cynthia cut in. "He leads a crime organization, I'm affiliated with the police. We're naturally enemies."

"Or you could say it childish like that." Cyrus concluded her sentence, turning back around and staring at the dark, purple sky above them. Dawn looked at them both doubtfully but shook her head and walked back over to Cynthia. She was standing, glaring at Dawn. "Why would you ask such a question?" Cynthia whisper-shouted at her. Dawn giggled and looked back up at her.

"Because you two have sexual tension." At that, Cynthia's eyes widened and her face contorted into disgust. Her eyes looked distant and she almost looked like she was thinking about something for a moment before she placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder and drooped her head.

"Please, don't ever say that again." Cynthia pleaded as her head began to think on it's own account. She shook _those _thoughts out of her head and looked back up. Her eyes were careful to avoid Cyrus, in case Dawn was watching.

"Well it looks as if we're going to have work together on this one, as much as I hate to admit that. But, I'd rather work with you than that cheerful little imp. She was slowly undermining my organization." Cyrus explained to Cynthia whose eyes were still a little distant. She avoided looking at him.

"Wait, you're saying that you want to work together?" Cynthia asked, staring off after Giratina. Before he could reply Dawn swooped up behind them and placed her arms around both of them. "Like a family!" She shouted happily. Cyrus's face could be explained as disgusted and repulsed as he tried to shake her off. Cynthia just shook her head and sighed.  
"Well, I'd like to think that this is temporary and as soon as we get out of here we're all enemies again, agreed?" Cyrus asked, placing his hand out to shake. Dawn scowled and placing her hands on her hips. "No way! We should stick together after this. We'd be an awesome team!" Dawn said enthusiastically with a thumbs-up. Cynthia grabbed Cyrus's hand and shook it, giving Dawn a look. She was too busy looking at their interlocked hands.

"Fine, party-poopers." Dawn said, giving them both and evil smile and placing her hand on top of their's and doing a little pre-game cheer. It was quite weird. Cynthia rolled her eyes and Dawn began running off, letting all of her pokemon out. They were just as peppy and annoying as she was. Cyrus stood next to Cynthia, crossing his arms.

"She's possibly one of the most annoying human-beings I've ever met, discluding you." He said quietly, peering at her from the side of his eyes. Cynthia scoffed and shook her head. She then crossed her arms and looked up at him. "Yeah well at least she's not evil."

* * *

"The first thing we should do is set up a place where we know we're safe and we can eat and sleep." Cynthia said quickly. They sat by a small campfire that Cyrus's Houndoom had conjured. Dawn shivered a bit and she was wearing a jacket. Apparently the Distortion World was extremely cold at night, which was a little hard to believe but...eh, what're you going to do? She huddled into her coat a bit more.

"What food?" Cyrus asked, motioning around as if to symbolize, _we're hopeless we might as well just lay down and die here _Dawn thought. What a negative guy. He needed a little sunshine in his life, like Cynthia! That was all Dawn could think about for the few...um, hours that they were there. They weren't really hours that were passing it was just before the three of them knew it, it was night.

"There could be food here. How do you think that Giratina has lived for all of these years?" She asked, signaling the giant snake-beast that was still flying around. She narrowed her eyes for a minute and stared into the fire. Dawn looked back and forth between the two,_ they have such nice chemistry. _

"Yeah, food that's edible for Pokemon, it might not be edible for humans as well." Cyrus argued, placing his hands in front of the fire. He was obviously getting colder as well. Dawn had never felt this cold before in her life, she didn't know why but she felt almost cold on the inside as well. Maybe it was just this place and how it was so...hollow.

"That's rarely the case with any pokefood. I'm sure we can eat whatever it's eating." Cynthia snapped, scoffing in the process. Cyrus angrily grimaced and stood up for a few minutes, moving his feet. Cynthia rolled her eyes and laid back against a rock that she had been using as her back-rest. "You're such a stuffy guy..." Cynthia muttered under her breath as she drug her knees up to her chin.

"You act like I can't hear that." He told her, sitting back down and resting the back of his head against his Houndoom who was still spitting some embers into the fire. Dawn smirked. He didn't really seem like the type of guy who would close with his pokemon like that. _I guess you learn new things everyday _she thought to herself.

"I think we're all a little crabby and need some rest. Let's all just go to sleep." Dawn said happily as she rest against her Luxray who was silently licking it's paw. Dawn kept close attention to them both to see for any awkward interactions, but alas there was none. Cyrus just fell asleep as he was sitting and Cynthia stayed awake against the rock. Although after a while Dawn fell into a deep slumber as the fire crackled in front of their little circle. Cynthia shook her head and stood up, she need ed to get away from these two for a while. They were driving her insane. Between Dawn's constant attempts to get her and Cyrus together and Cyrus's overall jackass-ness, it was all a lot to take in. Cynthia felt herself walk over to the edge of the floating platform that they had been sleeping on and sit down, dangling her feet off the edge.

"Couldn't sleep?" A voice asked from behind her. She quickly turned around to see who it was, though she could already tell from the male voice. Cyrus stood there, staring out into the empty darkness that this world's sky was. Cynthia chuckled.

"No, rocks aren't that comfortable." She said dryly, wringing her hands angrily. He smirked behind her so she couldn't see and sat down a few feet away from her, keeping a safe distance. Cynthia looked over at him and at that point she couldn't believe he was actually the boss of Team Galactic. Everything about him right now was calm. Calm and serenity. His face was perfectly stoic, like he couldn't be shaken. This wasn't the Cyrus Cynthia knew. This one was far too serene.

"I'm gonna, um go to sleep." She said. Her eyebrows knit together for a second then went back to their calm state. He didn't say anything as she stood up and walked back towards the small circle around their fire. She laid down on the ground and quickly fell to sleep, dreaming about nothing that night.

**(A/N): Yes, i'm doing another poke`mon fic. really, it should be better than the last, hopefully. And this time it's going to be a bit longer, instead of just a drabble. Anyway, if you like this PLEASE do not be afraid to review, even if you don't like it. Constructive Criticism is always welcome! And I apologize if Cyrus is a little ooc in this chapter. I hadn't exactly figured him out at this point. So, Enjoy!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, rise and shine sleeping beauty, we've got a busy day going for us!" Dawn's voice rang in Cynthia's ears. She had felt like she got about two hours of sleep, which she probably did considering how hard the ground was. Cynthia's eyes creaked open to be greeted by the damp ground. Ugh, what a terrible way to wake up. She rubbed her eyes and sat up, cracking her back a bit from the arthritis she was sure she'd have eventually. It was still dark, still night.

"Dawn, why'd you wake me up at night again?" Cynthia asked, staring at the ashes the fire used to occupy. Dawn furrowed her eyebrows for a second then chuckled. "Silly, time doesn't pass here. It's just not as cold anymore, so I figured that meant it was day again!" Dawn said far too peppily for how tired Cynthia was.

"Oh um Cynth?" Dawn asked, turning towards the fire. "Do you know where Cyrus is?" She finished, poking at the ashes. Cynthia frowned and thought about it for a minute. She looked toward the spot where he was _going _to sleep last night. Nope. She then looked towards the spot where he had sat with her the night before. Still no.

"Oh no." She whispered nervously as she stood up and frantically looked around their little fire circle. Dawn looked at her worriedly. "You don't think he ran off, do you?" She asked, standing up next to Cynthia. Cynthia looked around a bit more. "I have a feeling he has." She said quickly, like ripping off a band-aid.

"Did we need breakfast?" An all-too-familiar voice asked them from behind. They turned around simultaneously to see Cyrus carrying a fair sum of berries. Dawn laughed extremely loud and turned to look at Cynthia, who couldn't help but smile. This wasn't normal behavior for Cyrus. This was that same Cyrus that was talking to her last night. He looked really embarrassed as he placed them down by the front of the fire and mumbled something different. Dawn ran over to him.

"Thank you so much Cy!" She shouted, giving him a much unwanted hug. His face was mortified as he attempted to shake her off to no avail. He stood there for a few moments, standing absolutely still before ungrappling her and backing up. Cynthia stifled a laugh.

"Don't you dare call me that ever again. And don't _ever _touch me." Cyrus said very calmly, closing his eyes and resting his elbow on his other arm. Dawn giggled and looked over at Cynthia. "Aren't you going to be polite?" She asked expectantly and gave Cynthia a wink. Her eyes widened for a moment then went back to there normal state. She knew exactly what Dawn was trying to do.

"Thank you Cyrus. You can have first pick of berries." She said quietly, standing up and brushing her jacket off. Cyrus looked a bit surprised by that but bent down and picked up a Cheri berry. He walked off to a nearby rock and sat alone, eating his breakfast. Cynthia grabbed another berry and headed for the small little spring of water that was behind the large rock that she had slept against the night before. She took nibbles out of it as soon as Dawn and Cyrus were out of her line of sight. She needed to think alone for a few minutes.

The water was cool to her hands as she kneeled in front of it and washed her face. When she looked back into the reflection all she could see was a tired, sad face. This place had sapped her dry of all happiness she had posessed in the past couple of years. Cynthia began rubbing her eyes. Of all people to be stuck with, her and Dawn had to be stuck with Cyrus? Didn't he have some sort of ultimate poke`ball that could capture anything? You would think that he, of all people, would. She furrowed her eyebrows and took off her shoes.

"Cynth? Whatcha' doin?" Dawn asked as she rounded a corner. Cynthia responded to her affectionate nickname and looked over at the young girl who was tentatively approaching. That was odd. "What's wrong, Dawn?" Cynthia asked, rolling her pants up and sticking her feet in the freezing water.

"Well, I was just wondering why Cyrus was being so nice to us. I mean, he seems sort of...I don't know, different then he was the other day." Dawn replied as she took off her boots and stuck her feet in the water next to Cynthia. She recalled Cyrus's reaction to Dawn's hug. _That's not exactly nice, Dawn _Cynthia thought to herself, chuckling inwardly.

"I had a talk with him last night." Cynthia said. She had already prepared for Dawn's reaction, and truth be told she really didn't talk with him. Maybe he had just had some sort of strange epiphany, or maybe it was all an act. Cynthia honestly didn't care, both her and Dawn could take him if he tried anything. Cynthia shook herself out of her thoughts and looked to her right at Dawn who had remained quite quiet. She sat there, eyes wide and a sly smile strectched from ear to ear. Cynthia sighed and placed a hand on her forehead, trying to prevent the migrane that was already spreading.

"What exactly does that entail?" Dawn said sneakily as she quirked an eyebrow. Cynthia's face again contorted into a strange frown and her eyes became distant. _What a little pervert,_ she thought. Dawn chuckled and started rocking back and forth, clutching her stomach. Cynthia rubbed her temples and stood up. "How old are you Dawn?" She asked, still rubbing. Dawn chuckled and stood as well.

"I'm eighteen. Me and Barry started a little late." She explained as her eyes became wistful. Seeing the slight confusion in Cynthia's face, she went on. "See, my best friend is my neighbor, Barry. We grew up together and told each other as soon as we finished school we would become trainers. He was all for starting at ten, but I wanted to get some sort of education. Anyway, so the day I turned eighteen-Barry's a month older than me-we set off on our 'epic quest'" Dawn made little air-quotes around 'epic quest'.

"Then we kind've ran off before we even had a pokemon, you know Barry's idea. We ran into Professor Rowan and Lucas at lake Verity-which is right by our hometown-and they left their starters there. Some wild Starly jumped us and we fought them off. Lucas saw the whole thing," Cynthia noticed a certain way Dawn had said this Lucas's name. Almost admiration. "and well he told Professor Rowan who had deemed us suit for our pokemon, and even gave me a poke`dex-which Lucas also has, only in a different color-and that's how I started...you know, late." Dawn finished, adjusting her hat. Cynthia had noticed that Dawn had a way of veering off topic a little.

"Well, that's no small feat." Cynthia said quietly, stalking off back towards their site. Cyrus gave them both a glance of greeting as he watched the fire. Dawn sat down across from him and burrowed her head in her knees, quiet. That was the first time she had been quiet the whole time they had been there. Cynthia and Cyrus exchanged a look.

"Can I talk to you privately?" Cynthia whispered from her spot in front of the rock. Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. "I'm sure whatever you can say to me you can say in front of _her._" He motioned towards Dawn with his thumb. Cynthia rolled her eyes. Stubborn man.

"No, this is about _something._" Cynthia put major emphasis on that last word. Cyrus narrowed his eyes in confusion. _He knows exactly what I'm talking about, he's just being stubborn _Cynthia thought to herself as she stood up and walked over towards where he was sitting.

"Just go Cyrus." Dawn muffled through her knees. Cyrus was about to say something but cut himself short. She wasn't worth it. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants as Cynthia began walking towards the spring of water. He followed slowly. When he got around to the other side, Cynthia was staring down at her reflection in the water, only it was flipped upside down. He walked over to her.

"Makes you look better, I think." He said indifferently as he crossed his arms. Cynthia let the comment roll off of her and faced him. "Listen, Cyrus. I think me and you should take on Giratina," Cyrus began to protest but she cut him off, "I know you have a masterball, and I don't care if I have to stay here, I just want you to get Dawn out. Give her the masterball and then all of this can be over." She said. Cyrus noticed that she had a certain glint in her stormy eyes. Like a tornado was brewing in the storm. He looked at her, expressionless.

"I don't have any poke`balls on me right now. I...I'm sorry." His apology was short and quiet. Cynthia angrily closed her eyes and clenched her fists which had to be constrained to her sides. She couldn't be mad though. She couldn't be mad because Cyrus-a man who had erased all emotion from himself, including sympathy-had just apologized to her. And what made her more angry was that she didn't care if it was sincere or not, she was just glad that he had apologized. What was that all about? She hated him, why was she so glad he was sorry?

"Don't lie to me." Was all she could say as she looked at her feet. She wanted to avoid his eyes, they would only make her feel trapped. Like she couldn't be angry. That was Cynthia's weakness. When she looked at someone in the eyes she could feel what they were feeling. She felt their pain, she felt...bad for them. It was how she had always been. Her grandmother had been the same.

"I can honestly tell you that I'm not lying, Cynthia." That was the first time she had ever heard him speak her name. And he wasn't angry. He was empty. She heard no emotion in his voice when he had told her that. He was being honest, she could tell. Cyrus placed a hand to his forehead and began backing up. "Um, right." He said quietly, heading back towards the fire. Cynthia stood there, eyes tornadoes had subsided, but now something new was there. It was miniscule, but it was there

That night none of them got any sleep. Giratina couldn't be heard or seen. It was as if it had completely evaporated off the world. Dawn lay with her back on the ground, looking up at the purple, swirling sky. If they were trapped here forever, she would never see Barry or Lucas. Ever...again. It had hit her today when she was talking to Cynthia. Hit her like a ton of bricks. She clutched her Vulpix to her chest tighter and silently let tears run down her cheeks.

What was the last thing Barry had said to her? Something like 'Good luck Dawn, it's up to you now!'. Ugh, it ripped her inside. She felt as though a giant rock had just landed in her stomach. And then she remembered the look on his face when she had jumped through the hole. It was so sad, but proud. She felt warmed thinking about it. But that ugly, rock feeling hit her again when she thought of Lucas. He had told her to be careful, and that he really did care about her. She didn't really know what he had meant when he said this, considering she already knew that he cared about her, he didn't have to tell her. But his eyes were pleading. His dull, grey eyes. Despite being so bland, Dawn felt herself liking them very much. They were always so calm and cool, quite like Cynthia's. She then noticed that she was shaking. Racking herself with tears. Cynthia's head rose.

"Dawn, are you alright?" She asked, walking over to her and crouching behind her. She rested a hand on Dawn's back and made big circles. That had always soothed her when she was a child. Though, you couldn't really classify Dawn as a child. She was a full-grown trainer now. Cynthia felt wistful, Dawn reminded her of herself when she was younger. Dawn sniffled a bit and chuckled shakily.

"Yeah, what makes you think I'm not?" She asked, still not facing Cynthia. Her Vulpix nuzzled her and made a little mewing noise. Tears still streamed down her face in choppy bits. Cynthia smiled and sat down.

"Listen Dawn, it's alright. Nobody's gonna think you're a baby for crying. It's fine, you miss them. I get it." Cynthia explained. That opened up the flood gates and tears now flowed down Dawn's face like a flood. She shook violently and sputtered. That woke Cyrus up. "What-" He shouted as his body shot up but was quickly silenced by Cynthia putting a finger to her lip and pointing down at Dawn who looked like she was having a seizure. Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows and stood up, walking over to the edge of the platform.

Cynthia's eyes narrowed but her hand remained on Dawn's back. It had been one day. One day ago they had all arrived there. Dawn had been more than happy to be stuck with them. Why, even Cynthia was unsure of. She suspected it had something to do with what Dawn had said about her 'sexual tension.'with Cyrus. She shuddered inwardly. Never. But unfortunately Dawn had planted that stupid seed in her mind. Cynthia silently frowned at the thought. _Stop right now _she thought to herself as she stopped rubbing Dawn's back. She had fallen asleep and was now snoring peacefully. Cyrus stood stilly at the edge.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks for not saying anything back there with Dawn." Cynthia said quietly as she approached him. His eyes slid over towards where she was standing then landed back She stood a few feet away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. There was no breeze and it was exceptionally warm that night. The weather patterns were extremely varied in the Distortion World. Cyrus looked down at the ground.

"So about your plans for this new world..." Cynthia began but he cut her off. "They're gone. It was merely a petty dream that I've abandoned." He said silently, looking over towards her. Her eyes widened a bit, displaying confusion.

"But that's all you've been talking about for...as long as I can remember. You're just going to give up?" Cynthia retorted, turning towards him a bit. Cyrus closed his eyes for a moment, thinking about it then looked faced her.

"Exactly. I think I've realized that spirit is...despicably vital. As much as I hate to say it, If this is the world with no spirit. I don't want to make this mine." Cyrus said quietly. And that was the end of it. He turned around and walked back towards Dawn. Cynthia's eyes remained on him the whole time, watching him warily as he laid down and fell asleep. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. He was just giving up? The Cyrus who had no emotion was accepting it? Just like that? Not a thing he said had made sense to her. She rubbed her forehead and plopped down on the ground.

**A/N: Oh my God, if I would have known that people actually liked this story I would have updated sooner! Grrr, sometimes I hate email. Anyway, here is the next chapter. Lordie, I'm so sorry this took so long. This chapter is pretty long though. But whoa, whoa hey it's not that good in my opinion. The next chapter will be beautiful. :)))**


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